Zaragoza primed for away mission

Real Zaragoza won a ninth successive home match in Spain to equal a long-standing club record on a weekend where Thursday's Group C opponents FK Austria Wien continued their domestic title challenge.

Zaragoza
Zaragoza had the difficult task of facing Primera División high-flyers Sevilla FC, but two goals from star striker David Villa - who also scored twice against FC Utrecht on Matchday 1 - and another from Luciano Galletti helped them to a fine 3-0 win. The victory was their ninth in succession at La Romareda and equalled the club's best home run, set 40 years ago by the side dubbed 'Los Magníficos'. It is a consolation after losing their grip on the Spanish Cup in midweek with a 2-1 defeat at second division Gimnàstic de Tarragona. Víctor Muñoz's team will have to improve on a record of one win in six trips away from home this season when they travel to Austria on Thursday.

Austria
The Austrian side warmed up for the visit of Zaragoza with a 2-0 win at FC Wacker Tirol on Saturday, but the three points came at a price as Sigurd Rushfeldt, back after a one-game domestic ban, may now miss Matchday 2 with a muscle problem. The Norwegian striker scored his side's second goal on 81 minutes, ten minutes after Libor Sionko had broken the deadlock with his first goal for the capital club. The result marked a good recovery from the shock defeat by SV Pasching in midweek and leaves Austria second in the league ahead of their opening Group C fixture.

Dnipro
Despite defeating Club Brugge KV in their UEFA Cup opener, FC Dnipro Dniropetrovsk are playing indifferently in Ukraine; an uninspired goalless draw against second-from-bottom FC Vorskla Poltava leaving them in eighth position. Dnipro welcomed playmaker Ruslan Rotan back after six weeks on the sidelines with a groin injury but the 23-year-old could not inspire a goal and Dnipro were forced to rely on a makeshift back line bereft of both Serhiy Matiukhin and Olexandr Radchenko. The duo are expected to return on Thursday, however.

Utrecht
Their opponents on Matchday 2, Utrecht, also lie eighth after a goalless draw, but will be much happier with their performance against Eredivisie leaders PSV Eindhoven on Friday. Striker Dave van den Bergh and defenders Edson Braafheid and Bas van den Brink all sat out the game at Galgenwaard but are expected to return in midweek. Definitely missing is Joos Terol, the goalkeeper having been sidelined for four weeks with a thigh problem. 

Brugge
Belgian First Division leaders Brugge miss out this week and the rest should allow Marek Spilár (hamstring), Hans Cornelis (muscle injury) and Serhiy Serebrennikov (thigh) to recover from injuries in time for the Matchday 3 visit to Austria. The side won 4-1 at R. Standard de Liège on Friday to increase the gap between themselves and second-placed RSC Anderlecht to four points. Gaëtan Englebert struck two second-half goals after the league's top scorer, Boško Balaban, had opened the scoring with his eighth of the season. Timmy Simons completed the scoring in the last minute.